Adjustable climate control auxiliary box for cooling a container, vessel, box or chamber

ABSTRACT

An auxiliary box placed in an insulated chamber, vessel or container to produce a controlled temperature. The auxiliary box receives a coolant, such as dry ice (CO 2 ), and is constructed to allow controlled escape of the coolant into the chamber, vessel or container at a predetermined rate thereby controlling and maintaining the temperature ranges in the chamber, vessel or container to be cooled at a substantial constant temperature.

This application is entitled to and hereby claims the priority ofco-pending U.S. provisional application, Ser. No. 60/653,109, filed Feb.16, 2005.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention generally relates to an auxiliary box which can beplaced in a chamber, vessel or container to produce a controlledtemperature. The auxiliary box can be made of Styrofoam or any insulatedmaterial which can house a coolant, such as dry ice (CO₂), and isconstructed to allow the escape of the coolant into the chamber, vesselor container at a predetermined rate thereby controlling the temperatureranges in the chamber, vessel or container to be cooled at a substantialconstant temperature.

2. Description of the Prior Art

Various types of product cooling devices are well known to maintain theinterior of a container within certain adjustable temperature rangessuch as refrigerators and freezers which require the input of energy,such as electrical energy, to operate and control the refrigerationsystem incorporated into the refrigerator, freezer or the like. Also,portable coolers, such as picnic coolers are well known in which waterice is placed in the chamber to cool products in the chamber too or nearthe temperature of the water ice as the water ice melts into water.Picnic coolers of this type do not have the capability of varying thetemperature range within the picnic cooler at a constant selective levelfor long periods of time, are rather heavy and cumbersome to transportand retain a quantity of water therein which must be disposed of.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The invention is in the form of an auxiliary box capable of being placedin a larger chamber, vessel or container with the auxiliary boxincluding a quantity of coolant, such as dry ice (CO₂) and allowscoolant to escape at a predetermined constant rate thereby providing acontrol to maintain the constant but variable temperature range in thechamber, vessel or container being cooled.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide anauxiliary coolant box containing a quantity of dry ice (CO₂) with theauxiliary box enabling coolant to escape at a predetermined rate toprovide controlled low temperature ranges in the chamber, vessel orcontainer to be cooled without the input of electrical energy or othertypes of energy thereby rendering the auxiliary box and the chamber,vessel or container fully portable and capable of maintaining a constanttemperature within the chamber, vessel or container.

Another object of the invention is to provide an auxiliary box receivinga quantity of dry ice (CO₂) having removable and interchangeable areaswith perforations or small passages to enable the rate of passage ofcoolant from the auxiliary box into the chamber, vessel or container toproduce a controlled and constant temperature in the chamber, vessel orcontainer.

A further object of the invention is to provide an auxiliary box inaccordance with the preceding objects which can be of any size or formwith the perforated areas or porous areas providing a selectivetemperature range so that the chamber, vessel or container becomes amobile refrigerator inasmuch as no batteries, electrical power ormechanical moving parts are required.

Additional objects and advantages of the invention include an auxiliarybox that can be placed in a chamber, vessel or container to produce acontrolled temperature from about 65° F. to about −90° F. The auxiliarybox can be built into a chamber, vessel or container such as a cooler ofinsulating material as a permanent part thereof to enable reuse but alsomay be made of disposable inexpensive material to be used with variouschambers, vessels or containers and can be cooled by CO₂ pellets, dryice blocks or chemical coolants. The auxiliary box can be built into apart of the chamber, vessel or container such as into a removable lid toenable insertion of the coolant for discharge into the auxiliary box forpassage through the perforated areas or porous panels.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The drawings are intended to illustrate the invention, but are notnecessarily to scale.

FIG. 1 is a top plan view of a chamber, vessel or container with theauxiliary box of the present invention positioned therein.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the auxiliary box illustratinginterchangeable panels or areas having different size perforations orporosity.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view of the auxiliary box illustrating furtherstructural details of the interchangeable panels and the associationwith the quantity of coolant within the auxiliary box.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

In describing a preferred embodiment of the invention illustrated in thedrawings, specific terminology will be resorted to for the sake ofclarity. However, the invention is not intended to be limited to thespecific terms so selected, and it is to be understood that eachspecific term includes all technical equivalents which operate in asimilar manner to accomplish a similar purpose.

FIG. 1 illustrates the structure of the chamber, vessel or container 10which may be of any size, shape or configuration and provided with aninsulated space or volume 12 occupying a major portion of the chamber10. A closure lid 13 will be provided for the chamber 10 which may be inthe form of a removable lid sealingly engaging the top edge of thechamber 10 in a manner similar to a lid used in a conventional picniccooler.

The auxiliary box 14 containing the coolant is placed interiorly of thespace or volume 12 at any point of the periphery of the chamberincluding in the lid. The auxiliary box 14 allows coolant to escape at apredetermined rate for controlling the temperature ranges in the spaceor volume 12 of the chamber 10.

As illustrated, the auxiliary box 14 includes a plurality of panels orareas 16, 18 and 20 forming a portion of the periphery of the auxiliarybox with the panels 16, 18 and 20 having perforations therethrough or adifferent porosity with the upper panel 16 controlling passage ofcoolant to maintain a warmer temperature in the space 12 whereas thepanel 18 includes larger perforations or greater porosity to provide acolder temperature within the space 12 and the lower most panel 20 hasthe largest perforations or porosity and maintains a freezing or belowfreezing temperature in the space 12.

The coolant within the auxiliary box is illustrated in FIG. 3 and may bein the form of a solid block of dry ice CO₂ 22 or dry ice pellets orother chemical coolant which changes into a gaseous phase for passagesthrough the perforations or porous areas formed by the panels 16, 18 and20. This controls the temperature in the space 12 at a constanttemperature depending upon the number and porosity or size perforationsin the panels. This enables adjustment in the temperature within thespace 12 and maintains the temperature by interchanging panels and byusing a selected panel with perforations or porosity and other panels ofsolid construction to maintain a relatively warm temperature or usingmultiple panels with larger perforations or greater porosity to maintainconstant lower temperatures. Also, imperforate panels 24 may be mountedagainst the interim surface panels 16, 18 and 20 thereby providingfurther control of the temperature by space 12.

As illustrated, auxiliary box 14 has no moving parts, no batteries orelectrical connections, no attachments and may be of any size, shape orconfiguration and the panels may be selectively used to expose differentareas of perforations or porosity at any one time to determine thequantity of coolant entering the chamber space 12.

As illustrated in FIG. 3, a solid block of dry ice 22 may be used in theauxiliary box 14. Alternatively, pieces of solid CO₂, CO₂ pellets orother types of chemical coolants may also be used. The auxiliary box 14can maintain adjustable temperatures for a long period of time dependingon the size of the space 12 and the frequency of refilling the space 12with products to be cooled.

The foregoing description should be considered as illustrative only ofthe principles of the invention. Since numerous modifications andchanges will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is notdesired to limit the invention to the exact construction and operationshown and described, and, accordingly, all suitable modifications andequivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of theinvention.

1. An auxiliary cooling box for positioning in a product receiving spacein an insulated container for maintaining said space at a constantselected low temperature, a quantity of dry ice CO₂ coolant in saidcooling box, said cooling box including peripheral wall areas providedwith different porosity characteristics to vary the flow of coolant intosaid product receiving space, and a closure for selective porosity areasin the peripheral wall of said cooling box to maintain a predeterminedtemperature in said product receiving space in said insulated container.2. The cooling box as claimed in claim 1, wherein said peripheral wallof the cooling box includes a removable to enable a selected quantity ofdry ice to placed in the cooling box to maintain a selected lowtemperature in the product receiving space in the insulated containerfor a predetermined time period to facilitate use of the insulatedcontainer as a self-contained refrigerator.
 3. The cooling box asclaimed in claim 1, wherein said closure for selective porosity areasincludes imperforate panels positioned in closing relation to selectiveporosity areas.
 4. The cooling box as claimed in claim 2, wherein saidremovable lid on said cooling box includes a support for dry ice coolantfor discharge of coolant downwardly into said cooling box to reducetemperature stratification in said cooling box.
 5. In combination withan insulated container having a product receiving space provided with aremovable closure to provide access to said space, an auxiliary coolingbox dimensioned to be placed in said space, a quantity of dry ice CO₂coolant in said auxiliary box, said auxiliary box having a porous wallarea for discharging gaseous coolant into said space at a selective rateto lower the temperature in said product receiving space to a constantselected temperature for a predetermined time interval.
 6. Thecombination as claimed in claim 5, wherein said porous wall areaincludes areas having selective porous characteristics that areselectively used to enable variation in the temperature in said productreceiving space.